And the winner is: It depends on the wood your cutting. Haw haw, insert Nelson laugh here. Seriously though, it really does, the saws couldn't be more different in their power band.
I decided to put them to the test on some 10 inch maple, and using the Stihl 63 ps chain on both saws, the clear winner was the Homelite. Even though the revs were lower, you could lean on the saw and speed up the cut. It was the opposite with the Stihl, keeping the revs up gave you a faster cut, in fact I had to pull up on the saw a bit to keep it from dropping out of its best cutting speed. And this Stihl had a muffler mod and timing advance, the Homelite was stock.
On small wood, the Stihl would have the edge, its high rpm would simply cut faster. On big wood, no contest. The Homelite has so much mid range torque it could probably pull a full chisel chain on a 20 inch bar through hardwood. The reed valve setup gives you a huge pulling power advantage in a small saw. Overall, the Homelite is a more versatile saw as it can handle more types of wood, that is IF you don't mind the fact it has no chain brake or anti vibe.
In a mid range saw? I will find out after I break in a rebuilt Stihl ms390 and put it up against a Pioneer p-40.
I decided to put them to the test on some 10 inch maple, and using the Stihl 63 ps chain on both saws, the clear winner was the Homelite. Even though the revs were lower, you could lean on the saw and speed up the cut. It was the opposite with the Stihl, keeping the revs up gave you a faster cut, in fact I had to pull up on the saw a bit to keep it from dropping out of its best cutting speed. And this Stihl had a muffler mod and timing advance, the Homelite was stock.
On small wood, the Stihl would have the edge, its high rpm would simply cut faster. On big wood, no contest. The Homelite has so much mid range torque it could probably pull a full chisel chain on a 20 inch bar through hardwood. The reed valve setup gives you a huge pulling power advantage in a small saw. Overall, the Homelite is a more versatile saw as it can handle more types of wood, that is IF you don't mind the fact it has no chain brake or anti vibe.
In a mid range saw? I will find out after I break in a rebuilt Stihl ms390 and put it up against a Pioneer p-40.
